H.W. HarknessElementary School

Special program: Early Kinder. To learn more about this program, click here.

Signature field trip: Sly Park

After-school program: MASTERS (Making After School Time Enriching and Rewarding)

Preschool?: Yes

Through a balanced, holistic, culturally responsive and standards-based educational foundation, students will become lifelong learners, prepared to be competitive and successful at all levels of their academic career.

An effectively prepared staff will build effective relationships with students and parents; develop a standards-based and balanced curriculum that captures interest, motivates, encourages and challenges each student regardless of ability level to higher academic achievement; develop within
their students inventive thinking, adaptability and self-direction; explicitly teach interactive communication, social and personal skills; require students to develop quality state of the art results; develop relevancy of the state content standards through Project Based Learning and Service Learning; remain current on instructional best practices through professional development centric to the site’s critical pedagogy; promote English Language Acquisition and Development through vocabulary instruction and authentic exhibitions/presentations; provide targeted intervention; eliminate the academic achievement gap and engage students through the use of Culturally and Linguistically Responsive Teaching.

Sacramento City Unified School District currently has seven Early Kinder programs at the following school locations. For Early Kinder student registration please contact the school(s) listed below. All student registration materials are available at each of these school sites.

Hubert Bancroft/Thomas Jefferson
(Early Kinder is located on the Thomas Jefferson Campus at 2635 Chestnut Hill Drive, 95826) The Bancroft location and main office is located at 2929 Belmar St. 95826
(916) 382-5940

Third graders in Kathy Bowling’s class at H.W. Harkness Elementary School were among the winners of the Sacramento Bee’s “Be Water Smart” pledge contest. Students received T-shirts and a visit from the Bee’s mascot, Scoopy.

Five Sacramento City Unified students and two classrooms won awards in contests designed to reinforce water conservation.

Laura Escobar, a sixth grader at Washington Elementary School, won a $25 gift card in the “Let Your Imagination Flow” poetry contest sponsored by the Sacramento Area Sewer District and the Sacramento Bee.

Honorable Mention winners in that contest included Zander Moos-LaFranco, a fourth grader at Hubert Bancroft, and Keir Keenan, a sixth grader at O.W. Erlewine.

Assemblymember Roger Dickinson distributed more than 300 backpacks filled with school supplies to students at H.W. Harkness Elementary School on Wednesday, September 12.

The distribution capped Dickinson’s second annual “Give Back(pack) Drive,” a back-to-school drive to collect backpacks and supplies for kids.

“I am thankful for all of the generous donations we received from Sacramento area businesses and members of the surrounding community,” Dickinson said.“Every child deserves to have the tools necessary to succeed in school,” he added.

Beginning March 1, 24 of our after-school educational and learning enrichment programs will begin serving an estimated 2,500 “supper” meals daily through the At-Risk After-School Supper Program pilot. The meal is in addition to the snack previously provided to students attending after-school programs that run as late as 6 p.m. Suppers will be served between 3:30 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. and the snack later.

The suppers are funded by the USDA and administered by the California Department of Education, Nutrition Services Division. High-poverty schools (more than 50 percent of the students qualify for a free or reduced-price lunch) are eligible. Reimbursement for at-risk after-school snacks has been available since the 1990s. However, reimbursement for at-risk after-school suppers was formerly available only in a few states. The Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 (P.L. 111-296) expanded the availability for at-risk after-school meals to all states.

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails, Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management and H.W. Harkness Elementary School’s THINK Together Afterschool Program are partnering on a new air pollution awareness program. Called O24u, the environmental education program will engage students in such topics as the health effects of air pollution and practical solutions to reduce harmful emissions. Each topic includes fun, hands-on, interactive activities that educate and empower children to make changes for clean air and become advocates for clean air within their homes, schools and communities.

Shaun Peter’s fourth graders put on a living summary presentation of the novel “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen on October 26 and 27. The performance featured 16 different stations depicting various main events from the book. All students were active participants in the performance, from acting out scenes to serving as docents for younger students. Next up: “Dream Recipes” and a delicious “Frobscottle” drink to demonstrate comprehension of “The BFG” by Roald Dahl

SCUSD provides part day State funded preschool for eligible parents. The family monthly income must be under a certain amount.

If you would like to enroll in the State Preschool program please contact one of our two registration center Hiram Johnson Family Education Center, 3535 65th Street, (916) 277-7151;or Capital City Child Development Center, 7220 24th Street, (916) 433-2736.

School Programs & Services

During the course of any given year, the Child Development program provides early care and education to approximately 3,000 children ages 0-12. Children served include typically developing infants, toddlers and preschoolers and those with disabilities.

Parents are afforded a variety of program options and approaches, including center-based and home-based services, full-day/part-day preschool, infant/toddler playgroups and before/after school-age care.

Early Kinder (also called Transitional Kindergarten) is the first year of a two-year kindergarten experience for children whose 5th birthday falls between September 2nd and December 2nd for the 2014-2015 school year. (Refer to registration page for more information.)